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Updated on
March 09, 2009,
L.B.
asks from Waynesboro, PA
on
March 06, 2009

Burning Pain in Side

Hi Moms
I have had a burning pain in my side for almost 6 months now. It started out just once in awhile and then a couple a times a week then every day and now 2-3 times a day. It is on my left side under my rib cage. I have had blood and urine test and all have come back normal. I have also had a sonagram and it came back showing nothing. Yesterday was the worst and I now have a pain in my overies on the same side. If any of you have experienced this pain or have any ideas for me I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

So What Happened?™

Thanks for all the suggestions and help. I ended up having a cat scan and found that the pain was due to diverticuli. I can't eat anything w/seeds like strawberries or sesame sticks and I have to stay away from nuts. It is working very well now. I also have a perscription when it flairs up that is say when I become pregnant again. Thanks again. L.

More Answers

M.B.
answers from Dover
on
March 07, 2009

did you have an accident or fall? It could be a rib dysfunction or disc involvement from your back. A burning, tingling sensation is commonly described when a nerve is being irritated. I would talk to your primary about getting an MRI/xray or at least a referral to an orthopedic doctor. I am a physical therapist and i commonly hear his complaint in my back patient's. There is non-invasive help if so. Good luck.

L.,
From where the pain is I would say ahve your doc check your spleen. But it could also be whats called referred pain, meaning something in another area of the body is trying to send you a message along the only nerve that it has access to. Have your doc check other things too, Lungs, Heart, kidneys, colon, bladder and uterus.

Someone mentioned referred pain; I would have pooh-poohed that before recently when I had a toothache in my upper left jaw, had a cavity filled in the lower left jaw and it took care of the pain in the upper left jaw!

I know it's a nuisance but keep seeing doctors until someone listens to you. Pain is not normal! (duh!)

Someone else mentioned stress, that could be a problem too. I was having heart palpitations a few years ago and of course, the heart is not something you play with, so I went to the doc. They did an EKG, which showed nothing wrong, but even before that, the doc suggested I got even more stressed when it happened and told me to stop freaking out about it. It went away. Try not worrying about it before they know what's going on. I know, easier said than done, but you might give it a try.

Since blood and urinetests would rule out problems with the kidneys and liver, I guess it's possible that you have some kind of infection or inflammation in your colon, something not detectable via sonogram. The left side sounds odd since it's the right side that has everything like the gall bladder and the appendix, so colon was all I could think of. If it's something like that, it would stand to reason that it could travel to other bodily systems, such as your ovaries. I don't know too much about this, but from what I understand the colon is the likeliest culprit. It could be anything from an infection, to IBS, to polyps, to even cancer. Ask your doctor to arrange a colonoscopy for you. I know there are two kinds. I don't know what they're called, but I know that the lower colon is the portion routinely screened. I also know that you can request to have your upper colon screened as well (which it sounds like you may need since the pain is so high up.)

Best of luck to you, I hope this gets resolved for you soon.

_________________________________________________________

I'm editing my response because I thought of something else it might be. You could be experiecing some type of regular spasm in your intercostal muscles. They are the muscles that bind your ribs together. Talk to your doctor about that too.

I was diagnosed with Endyometriosis and Andiometriosis, production of to much estrogen and it started growning in my uterious wall. Plus I had a cyst on my ovary. My doctor had me do a MRI. Hope this helps

I had the same thing for years. Finally after 2 colonoscopys, 3 sonograms, and more bloodwork than I care to remember, I finally found a surgeon that suggested that it was just scar tissue from episodes I had before I had my gall bladder out. He said that often, between the scar tissue that can form and the extra work that your pancreas (which is on the left side right under the bottom of your ribcage) has to do, this can cause pain, especially similar to diverticulitis. Meaning certain foods inflame it worse than others. I finally figured out that the pumpkin seeds I eat every now and then would enflame it for months. Dont know for sure if this is your problem, but might be something to watch for.

Some times the pain from something inside can radiate to a different spot so you want to make sure you check everything in the vacinity of your pain. If there was no blood in your urine that may rule out kidney stones, but I would check for those as well as gall stones. Your spleen/liver.

Ask your dr for an MRI or CatScan to rule out these issues and many others. You should not have to be in pain for so long.

Have you been to your GYN? Could be bladder infection or yeast infection. Are you drinking water? Are you having bowel problems? I have that problem when I don't drink enough--too busy and forget. I don't know your age, but I found when I hit mid-30s that things like cranberry juice, capsules, yogurt, tea, bottled water, and ginger ale had to be staples in my household. Also, check your stress level. If you're watching three preschoolers, that could be a bit much. If it's still nothing, you could be standing on your feet too long in the day and straining muscles.

I'm with the post below mine, I had really bad scar tissue from previous surgery, to include my c-section, that had to be removed. It got so bad that it was attaching all my internal organs, sorry i know that's gross, but it CAN NOT be seen in any kind of test. The surgery was in and out laparotamy (not sure I spelled it right). May wanna check back with your OB again.